Elon Musk is pushing Tesla to the forefront of innovation yet again with yesterday’s announcement that all new Tesla models will come with hardware that enables them to be fully self-driving. Their Model S and Model X electric cars are already currently being produced with this new hardware. It includes eight cameras, 12 updated sensors and radar with faster processing. However, while all new models will come equipped with this new hardware, no autonomous driving features will be activated until it undergoes further testing.
This new autonomous driving technology is set to be an improvement over Tesla’s current Autopilot feature which works to assist drivers instead of taking complete control over the vehicle. Federal regulators have been investigating the safety of the Tesla Autopilot feature since a Model S that was operating in Autopilot mode failed to recognize a white tractor-trailer due to bright sunlight and collided with said vehicle killing the Model S driver back in May.
Regardless of the potential for regulatory and other sorts of delays, Musk has claimed that by the end of 2017, a Tesla will be able to drive in full autonomous mode from Los Angeles to New York without any human intervention. This goal might seem overly ambitious though as most rival automakers have announced autonomous vehicles being sold by 2019 or 2021.
With worries of Musk’s extremely ambitious goals and fears of the high cost of implementing these new features, $8000 on new vehicles, Tesla’s stock dropped 3% on Thursday down to $198.
Only time will tell how this new autonomous driving technology will truly affect Tesla and their stock, and how it will affect the future of the automobile industry.
Nick Mic's Blog 